Even by President Donald Trump’s standards of aggressive bombast and hyperbole, his speech to the United Nations on Tuesday was a stunner. He overtly threatened to wipe out North Korea, a country of 25 million people.

Trump and North Korean President Kim Jong Un have been trash-talking for some time now about North Korea’s aggressive pursuit of nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles. But Trump raised the ante in his U.N. speech when he said that the “Rocket Man is on a suicide mission for himself.”

Just prior to that statement Trump said, “The United States has great strength and patience, but if it is forced to defend itself or its allies, we will have no choice but to totally destroy North Korea.”

Let that sink in for a minute. Set aside for a moment the name-calling, which is a Trump trademark. There is no mistaking the intent here. The president was not talking about regime change. Or sanctions. Or international pressure. He was talking about launching an attack designed to wipe out 25 million people.

Remember, too, that this was not an off-the-cuff remark as Trump had done previously. In that case administration officials had to walk back his statements about fire and fury as having been spontaneous. This message was delivered in a prepared address to none other than the United Nations.

He warned that “rogue regimes,” such as North Korea and Iran, were a growing international threat that must be met head on.

To be fair, Trump did praise the U.N., which he criticized repeatedly during his campaign, for enacting economic sanctions against Pyongyang. But then he said that if Kim’s regime continued to threaten the U.S. or its Asian allies that he was prepared to act.

“If the righteous many do not confront the wicked few, then evil will triumph,” he said.

While that is true, confronting the wicked few can be done in far less extreme ways. If the “righteous many” see fit to kill 25 million people to confront the wicked few it could hardly be termed a triumph. In fact, it would be the most grievous failure of American diplomacy in history.

It is possible that Trump is employing the “Madman Theory” employed to great usefulness by Presidents Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan. For that technique to work the other side simply has to believe that a leader is a madman capable of anything. Of course, there is always the danger that the other side might be so fearful that it would decide to launch a first strike. It’s a risky strategy.

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Prior to the U.N. speech a national poll indicated that more than 60 percent of Americans were “uneasy” with Trump’s ability to handle the North Korea situation. After the U.N. speech, we will bet that number is higher.